Forwarded message:
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 07:41:29 -0400 From: Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com> Subject: Re: I thought of an initialy regulated industry!...
A normally operating coal plant releases more radioactive material (carbon 14) than a normally operating nuclear plant.
The largest environment impact issue with a nuclear plant is hot water discharge (which is much larger than the exhaust from a coal plant) and spent fuel storage because of the amount of time that is required to guarantee seals. In the first place the heated water effects the ecology of the local area and you see the ripples of this in the ecology changes for hundreds of miles. An additional impact is that because of the water needs of plants they are usualy located in or near wetlands which are critical to the entire eco-cycle for thousands of miles. The issue with storage is that it occurs on a time line that is best described as near-geologic. Periods of time that are orders of magnitude longer than human civilizations survive.
coal plant are not only more voluminous (though less dense) than the coal that goes in but also contain a substance that is more poisonous than plutonium (arsenic trioxide).
Consider the difference in volume of these two waste products... ____________________________________________________________________ The seeker is a finder. Ancient Persian Proverb The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------